The Woods
by jigoku18
Summary: a few months after the events of inferno, robert langdon has a nightmare in which a familiar face appears. sienna brooks has somehow returned from the dead, and now haunts the poor professor. how will they bond? what will occur? and, most importantly, is sienna brooks real, a ghost, or a creation by robert's mind?
1. tree one

author's note:

so several days ago i had decided to revive this idea for an au i imagined at the start of july.

(it originally wasn't supposed to be angsty, but because i read the forest fic when i wrote down chapter one, it developed into a dark fic so-)

anyways, enjoy!

sienna took his hand and examined it.

there was something so...special about his hands. they appeared to be able to execute all types of force, but at the same time, they could create even the most gentle of touch.

it seemed like god had carved them out of marble, every vein and every detail were perfectly palpable, giving a soothing feeling to others' fingertips.

"sienna?"

his voice startled her.

apparently she had fallen into a trance.

"hm?"

"what are you doing?", he asked suspiciously.

"examining your hand,

who knows if there's something wrong?"

robert gave her a light chuckle, "i think my hands are fine, thank you."

are doctors always like this?, he wondered.

she let go of his hand and sat back against the couch, exhaling deeply.

an awkward silence filled the room.

"you won't tell other people about me, will you?"

"how am i supposed to tell others about a 'ghost'? no one would believe me," he replied with a tired tone,

"they'd just think that i'm insane."

"you aren't", she reassured him.

he looked into her pale bark eyes.

"what if i am? what if you're just made up by my mind?"

"robert, did you feel something when i held your hand?"

"..yes."

"did you feel something when we...", sienna fell silent. she couldn't bring herself to say the words.

"yes", he sighed,

i did."

"then how am i created by your mind? you can't feel something that's not there, can you?"

robert tried to process what the young woman had told him.

"maybe you're right. maybe you are real.."

she moved closer to him and stared into his eyes.

"i am real.", she claimed.


	2. tree two

a young man was laying half-unconscious on the leaf-filled earth of a forest.

"get up", a small voice ordered him to do.

dusting off the now-dirty sap green shirt and his black jeans, he stood up and turned around to where the mysterious person would be.

a young woman with dark brown hair, pale bark eyes, orchid-pink lips, skin as white as bone, and weeping hands, stood before him.

the man quickly recalled who she was.

"..sienna?"

"it's nice to have you back, robert", she said with a soft smile on her face.

there were so many words rushing through robert langdon's head, he couldn't form a sentence.

"what...how...aren't you-"

sienna cut him off before he could continue his gibberish.

"technically, yes, i am dead. but that doesn't matter right now."

he had calmed and was now actually able to say something.

"...what do you mean 'that doesn't matter right now'?"

"you'll see."

she turned towards a dark path in the woods.

"follow me", she ordered, once again.

robert hesitated at first, but curiosity pressured him to follow the lady.

he went with her.

she dragged him along, walking into the woods deeper and deeper, and the path turning into a terrifying, dark, tight way.

the young man sienna had gripped by the arm certainly didn't feel good about it.

"where are you leading me?", he inquired in a shaky voice.

"don't worry,

you'll see."

see what??

suddenly, sienna started running.

"wait no, slow down—"

faster.

"sienna—"

and faster.

"NO, SIENNA—"

and faster into the complete darkness.

"SIENN—"

a blinding, white light and high-pitched noise shattered the picture.

robert langdon woke up, trying to catch his breath.

he turned his head towards the window.

it's dark out.

while he was turning the night lamp on, robert noticed a figure sitting on the armchair opposite of the bed.

"what just happened?"

"i got us out of your dream", it replied.

it was sienna.

"how come you're still here?"

"well, that's one of the questions i don't know how to answer-

i just kind of am here."

like a spirit, robert thought.

disturbing.

he examined her for a second.

a prussian blue trench coat draped over her physique, as if she was wearing a wrap, like the women in ancient rome. the only difference being that her coat was out of thicker material.

underneath, a white shirt was loosely fitting her body. it seemed like it was made out of silk.

dark blue leggings wrapped around her legs, only reaching to her slingback wedge shoes.

hm. something is missing.

thanks to robert's eidetic memory, he can remember everything and every detail.

the last time he saw her she wore a golden necklace, with a small teardrop-shaped artifact connected to it. strangely, it had vanished.

robert brushed the thought off of his mind.

"so...you're going to stay here now?", he finally asked.

"well, if you don't mind...", she shuffled around nervously.

an awkward silence filled his bedroom.

"you're a ghost?"

"perhaps. i..."

suddenly, sienna got up from the chair and walked over to his side of the bed, sitting down beside him.

she took his hand.

it didn't go through hers. apparently she had a fully physical form.

"looks like i'm not", sienna exclaimed.

"then how are you..."

robert fell silent for a moment.

"...you know what? we'll talk this over in the morning."

"agreed,

but where am i supposed to sleep?"

"there's a guest room."

"oh, okay..."

there was something so embarrassing in their encounter.

she got up from the bed.

"..good night"

"good night.", he replied.

sienna left the room and closed the door on the way out.

robert turned onto his back and exhaled deeply.

he tried his best to ignore all the questions he had.


	3. third tree

"aren't you hungry?"

"no", sienna said as she picked at her breakfast with a fork.

"i looked through your food cabinet when i woke up this morning."

"...when did you wake up?", robert asked out of curiosity.

"hmm...

something like 3:30 A.M.?"

"okay", he sighed

"guess there's more for me then."

"no no, i'll eat it! i've got to have a normal breakfast, after all."

he gave her an amused chuckle.

"fine, but hurry up a bit, or else we're going to be late."

"...to where?", she asked while chewing.

a short pause echoed through the kitchen.

"you'll see."

robert langdon walked along a leaf-covered path.

"why are we in the woods?", a gentle voice asked.

robert looked up from the ground. apparently the rhythmic crunch of the leaves had set him into a trance.

"well", he started, "because the nightmare is set in a forest, i thought we could prevent more of them from happening by going here."

sienna thought about his idea for a moment.

"...i don't see the logic in that."

"i don't know anything about the supernatural", he sighed. "so i guess this is the only thing we can do."

"supernatural? am i a ghost?"

"i have no idea of what you are.

you appear in the real world, but you can also appear in dreams.

you're able to touch objects and people. i truly don't know what you are."

sienna was silent for a few seconds.

"where exactly are we supposed to go in the forest?", she suddenly asked.

"i assume we're supposed to go to the same path we ran on."

"let's find it then."

the two...power-walked...through the woods, the sky darkening.

sienna looked at the man walking in front of her.

he had gotten paler and paler along the way, his ultramarine blue eyes were currently the most striking feature about him. his heavy breathing was now one of the many noises audible in their surroundings.

sienna cried out, "there, there it is!"

she pointed towards a dark, tight, way, a few metres away from them.

his voice had lost its strength, "yes, th-that's the..."

robert pitched forward bonelessly and hit the ground like a ton of bricks- he had passed out.

"robert?!"

sienna fell onto her knees beside him, turning him onto his back and shaking him.

no reaction.

she mumbled a swear and closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against his.

i pray that this works.

a girl, possibly about nine years old, was running through a snow-drowned place, pale, thin, trees sticking out of the ground. the sky was drowned in a grieving blue.

she had been searching for something for almost ten minutes.

or was she searching for someone?

"ROBERT!", she screamed once again.

her pace slowed down, and sienna let herself crash onto the snow.

tears were rolling down her vermilion cheeks.

a pained cry echoed across the whole landscape.

now she was just sobbing on the ground and letting her limbs freeze.

sienna buried her face in her hands and whimpered.

"shhh, i'm here, everything's okay..", a kind voice whispered.

the girl turned her head towards the person.

an attractive young man with ultramarine blue eyes and wild, dark brown hair, had crouched down beside her.

it was robert, as always.

"you would've died of hypothermia like this..."

the only things she was dressed in was a white shirt loosely tucked into a pleated skirt and black stockings.

"as..as if it's p-possible to die in a dream...", her voice sounded powerless.

he wrapped his jacket around her and scooped her up into his arms.

"you're warm...", sienna whispered as she gripped onto robert's blue sweater.

he let out a light chuckle.

as robert entered the dark path, the temperature had risen noticeably.

the picture turned black.


	4. bush

author's note:

a couple days ago my friend had recommended us (me and another friend of mine) in the group chat to write a fluff fic, so i came up with this

anyways, here y'all go-

robert langdon sighed as he looked down onto the bulky blanket that was laying in the armchair.

"did you really have to collapse onto the snow?"

"..i was tired", a voice with a posh accent exclaimed.

"now you're more tired than ever."

sienna brooks let out a raspy cough as she stuck her head out from underneath the cover.

"i'll take that as a compliment.."

"is it going to be done soon?", she forced herself to ask, despite having a sore throat.

"yes, just be patient"

robert paused for a moment.

"..how are ghosts supposed to get a cold anyway?"

she countered, "do you really think i know the answer to everything?"

"well", he begun, "judging by your attempts at trying to stop overpopulation at the age of eleven, you do."

her face flushed with a light pink.

"thank you.."

robert shot her a soft smile and turned to the boiling pot on the stovetop.

about six minutes later, everything was done.

"alright, it's ready!", he announced from the dining room.

robert put a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a mug of hot chocolate on the dining table.

sienna got up from the chair and traipsed to the dining table, still having the heavy rug on her shoulders.

"robert, you didn't have to do this..", she murmured as she sat down.

"i kinda did.", he chuckled.

she picked up the spoon and tried the soup.

"..is it good?"

a short pause hung in the air.

"it's perfect."

sienna got up from the chair and wrapped her arms around the older man.

"thank you very much, robert."

robert hugged her back.

"..you don't have to thank me."


End file.
